Iran's Nuclear Program

Unlike my previous article where I discussed exactly why the news sucks, today I'm going to bring you a piece of news, and offer my opinion on it.

I've been following closely the situation with Iran in the Middle East. Soon after the invasion of Iraq, rumors were flying on whether we intended to attack Iran. Since then the rhetoric between our two countries has been flying back and forth. We don't intend to allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. Iran insists it only wants peaceful nuclear techonology for fuel purposes. As a signatory to the NonProliferication Treaty, Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear technology. So what's the big deal?

To us the big deal is that Iran has been hiding suspicious activity that could lead to the development of nuclear weapons. They've provided flimsy excuses when questioned about it and have admitted to hiding a nuclear program for years. While they do have the right to peaceful nuclear technology, their attempts to hide their program makes them seem unreliable.

Iran likely does want the ability to be able to make nuclear weapons, but I personally believe they do intend their program for the generation of electricity. The Iranians are not stupid. Thousands of years before there was a United States, Persia (Iran) was a dominant world empire. Their people may long for the day when they get their rightful place on the world stage. Rightly or wrongly, the only way to do that in the modern world is to get nuclear weapons.

They live in what is likely the most unstable region in the world. They've been attacked by Iraq, to their north lies a country who hasn't had a truly stable government since the USSR attacked Afghanistan, and when the USSR fell apart, they all of a sudden didn't have a buffer between what they see as Israeli/American aggressiveness and themselves.

The United States supported Saddam Hussein during the Iran/Iraq war. We watched while chemical weapons were used against Iran and all because we feared an Iranian power in the Middle East. Would you trust a neighbor who watched robbers come in your house, kill your family, then turned away? I doubt it.